Greece takes small step on road to recovery

LONDON, April 11 (IFR) - Greece's first bond issue since it
inflicted painful losses on bondholders two years ago was hailed
as the kick-start the country needs to drag itself out of the
financial crisis and the latest sign that Europe has turned a
corner on its crisis.

But on Friday the bond suffered in secondary as the wider
market weakened leaving open the question of how successful its
comeback trade really was.

After Ireland and Portugal, the sovereign was the final
bailed-out country to make a return to the eurozone bond market,
but unlike them, it faced the challenge of having to win over
investors after its 2012 debt restructuring.

"This transaction is a game changer for Greece and puts the
country in a totally different light with its creditors and the
troika," said Hakan Wohlin, head of global debt origination at
Deutsche Bank, one of the banks on the deal. "This deal shows
that Greece has market access, at sustainable rates and in
size."

He added that while it was helpful to have central bank
liquidity, this was not the sole reason for Greece's success.

"Investors really believe that Europe has turned a corner
and a huge amount of structural reforms have taken place in
Greece and in other countries."
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